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First female AME bishop visits the South Plains

Bishop Vashti Murphy McKenzie came to Lubbock as part of the Imagine A.M.E. Tour

From left, Randy Christian, chairman of the board of the American Cancer Society in Lubbock; Bishop Vashti Murphy McKenzie; and the Rev. Eddie Williams.

On June 6, the South Plains welcomed the presiding prelate of the 10th Episcopal District for Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church.

Bishop Vashti Murphy McKenzie came to Lubbock as part of the Imagine A.M.E. Tour of Churches in an effort to meet with members of the community and help brainstorm solutions to current issues with the local congregants.

“In the state of Texas, we’re doing a needs assessment,” said McKenzie. “As I share with our congregants, if I come to plant apple trees and you really need to have oranges, what’s the point? In our dialogue, we get to know what the concerns are, what the needs are, what the issues are — how can we shape a ministry strategy to meet specifically to those needs in a four-year program?”

McKenzie and her staff spent their time in Lubbock meeting with Bethel A.M.E. Church, headed by the Rev. Eddie Williams. The tour of Texas began last year and incorporates churches from all over the state.

“We began last summer, and our tentative year is until 2016, and so we want to put together a ministry strategy,” said McKenzie. “Like, if you don’t plan, you’re not going to get anywhere. So we’re planning the work and we’re working the plan.”

For McKenzie, this is new work in an unfamiliar place, but she’s become accustomed to being a trailblazer.

McKenzie is the first woman to be elected to the office of bishop in the A.M.E. Church since its inception 226 years ago. She earned the title in 2000, when she was assigned to the 13th district.

“Before I was assigned to Texas last year, in 2012, I served as the presiding bishop of the 13th Episcopal district, which is Tennessee and Kentucky, for eight years,” said McKenzie. “Before that I was in Africa, in the southeast corner of Africa: Botswana, Swaziland, Mozambique and Lesotho, and I served there.

“Before my election in 2000, of course, I was a pastor in the A.M.E Church,” she added. “I pastored congregations from the rural setting to the urban one, with as few as seven members in my first little church out in the country to my last congregation of over 1,700 members.”

McKenzie has had a long journey between her seven-member congregation and the entire state of Texas, but she says the key to her work remains the same — an open dialogue with the congregants.

“Everyone has been wonderful, great, welcoming,” she said. “Opportunity to share about the community helps me to get to know them and them to get to know me, so that we can put together a miniature strategy that will fit the state of Texas.”

Although McKenzie has visited Lubbock before, she emphasized June 6 she only became bishop in this region last year, saying she and the congregants of Texas need to create a long-term strategy to help the church grow and adapt. McKenzie and her staff visited Denton, Amarillo and Wichita Falls before coming to Lubbock, and left for Abilene this week to further their community outreach.

“Goals are shaping up,” she said. “We are looking at resourcing local congregations, being intentional about the next generation, being in the pews, as well as participating in ministry, taking a look at how community issues impact our congregations as far as economic, environment, education, how that shapes the future. How can we prepare our congregants spiritually here to be effective and relevant in the 21st century, but also to participate in this new economy that seems to be emerging at this time?”

The congregants of Lubbock greeted McKenzie with some community work of their own. At the Holiday Inn Hotel & Towers, Rev. Williams and McKenzie presented the American Cancer Society with a donation from the church’s congregants.

“We are working with the cancer society and our local churches,” said Williams. “We are also going to be working with the cancer society to bring more awareness to men about prostate cancer, and across the board, also as well as women’s breast cancer.”

Although McKenzie did not get to stay in Lubbock long, she said the members of the West Texas community and the community of the state as a whole have given her a warm welcome.

“I’m really excited to be in Lubbock, to have an opportunity to visit Bethel A.M.E. Church here and to chance to meet the congregants,” said McKenzie. “We’re happy to be in Lubbock. We just love it.”

Williams agrees with the inclusive approach that McKenzie says she will be bringing to the 10th district.